The invention relates to a rotary tube reactor for the thermal treatment of powdered to lumpy solid material and/or substances in liquid form with the evolution of gases and optionally with the supply of additional substances, consisting of a bundle of axially parallel tubes which are mounted in plates arranged perpendicularly thereto, the individual tubes being joined together to form at least one treatment line with a material supply means at its beginning and a material outlet at its end. The invention also relates to methods using the abovementioned rotary tube reactor.
Reactors of this type are used for thermal treatment by heating or cooling, for example, for the purpose of heating or cooling material, for example, with vaporisation or evaporation, with crystallisation, melting or setting and sublimation.
However, these reactors are also used for carrying out chemical reactions for the production of chemical substances with the participation of solid and/or liquid and/or gaseous reactants.
In principle, rotary tube reactors of this type in the form of driers or heat exchangers are known and are used for drying a very wide variety of granula or powdered substances. The material to be dried is generally conveyed through the tubes together with the heating gas but indirect heating is also known.
These apparatuses do not allow intentional intervention at certain points in the course of the reaction.